# Maintain

> Run one maintenance cycle of a fork the machine carries, from its workshop repository — bind one upstream snapshot, reconcile every behavior the workshop's MAINTAIN.md requires, gate a candidate, publish the integration branch under a lease, hand it to its consumer, and record the state. Use for /maintain or a request to maintain a named fork from a workshop checkout; installation without maintenance is the workshop's own consumer step, not this.

- Skill: `possibilities/maintain` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 4 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add possibilities/maintain`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/possibilities/maintain/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Integrations & APIs
- Author: possibilities (https://skillmd.com/u/possibilities)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/possibilities/maintain

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# Maintain a fork

Run one maintenance cycle of the fork declared by the workshop's
`MAINTAIN.md`. Read that specification and the
[full cycle procedure](references/fork-maintenance.md) before fetching,
reconciling refs, repairing a feature, or publishing a candidate. Resolve
script paths from this skill's directory and use the workshop's declared
entrypoints; all project facts come from the workshop.

A `/maintain` invocation authorizes its ordinary reconciliation, feature
repair, gates, publication, and consumer handover within the workshop's
existing scope. Honor narrower user constraints and prior authorization.
A consequential product choice unresolved by the spec or implementation
needs a human decision; complete independent preparation before that handoff.

## Follow one captured cycle

1. Establish clean workshop and bound-checkout state and inventory existing
   worktrees. Read the workshop and fork guidance. Capture the fork heads for
   exact publication leases, then one immutable upstream target.
2. Fetch exactly that upstream object once. Read the full interval since the
   audited frontier, and assign every carried behavior a retire, repair, or
   unchanged disposition. A clean replay or merged request is not proof of
   semantic coverage or retirement.
3. Make repairs and compose a candidate in owned worktrees. Preserve the
   bound checkout, previous publication, unrelated heads, and consumer
   binding. Follow the declared carry or linear model.
4. Gate the exact committed candidate using every required command and any
   required external proof. Publish the mirror, Integration, and current
   carries together in one atomic push with the starting leases. Re-read the
   complete graph before the workshop's consumer step; never retry a race
   with freshly captured leases.
5. Verify the consumer, reconcile the published branch model, and update the
   scratchpad. Advance the audited frontier only after a complete audit.
   Clean up only owned, clean cycle worktrees with no live process using them.

The reference contains the fixed spec sections, supervised branch model,
exact-object fetch, atomic publication recipe, upstream-offer rules, and
report requirements. Missing declarations or required proof are an explicit
incomplete gate, not a reason to improvise a broader publication scope.

## Preserve boundaries

Upstream requests and historical heads are evidence. Do not mutate their
branches, comments, or status as incidental maintenance. Read the offer rules
before preparing a contribution; communication still needs authorization.
Use native harness delegation only as allowed by the active role.

If a rebase, review, gate, publication, or consumer check fails, report the
exact failure and the state that remains in place. Keep useful evidence and
owned work needed for recovery. Never claim successful delivery from a green
local gate when a required publication or consumer check is still pending.

## Close the cycle

Always give a self-contained report: outcome, upstream reviewed, changed fork
accommodations, stance and carry impact, and evidence or remaining attention.
Use the [report contract](references/fork-maintenance.md#notify-and-close),
including explicit no-change results. Keep exact hashes and receipts in
written evidence; follow the active role's speech conventions. A machine
receipt, notification, or worker handoff does not replace the human report.